UNFREEZING SCHOOL REPUTATIONS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY

Abstract

The school often generates different kinds of reputations. These reputations can have negative consequences on pupils’ learning process. Bad reputations make pupils’ efforts invisible, whereas good reputations restrict teachers’ perception of pupils’ desinvestment in learning. Although individualization seems to be an ideal alternative to thwarting reputation creation, it cannot be permanently applied in teachers' practice because of time pressures, cognitive overload, and other facilitators of the automatisms emergence. Hence, the aim is not to banish stereotypical reasoning, but rather to keep a balance between automaticity and reflection through a social cognitive flexibility approach (SCF). The current study tests the impact of a social cognitive flexibility approach on teachers’ thinking about pupils. Social cognitive flexibility seems to help teachers suspend hasty judgments of pupils’ attitudes and behaviors. The study considers the implications of social cognitive flexibility on teachers’ practice in terms of better perception of pupils’ learning potential. Key words: social cognitive flexibility, categories of pupils, teachers’ thinking.